Ellie took one of the fruit slices and munched.

"That's okay, Miss. I'll come down."

Christine nodded and smiled. "This will all be here later. I promise, it won't turn into a pumpkin after midnight. "She headed down and made her own cup of tea and sat at her desk as she ate a slice and went back to simply staring off at nothing.

Ellie joined her employer downstairs for tea in the 'office' in the back of the shop. Hot, fresh, and milky in fancy cups. The furball wandering around the immediate area making curious cat noises - demanding attention or objecting to something. Ellie snacked on orange slices. "So.. tell me about yerself, Miss. 'Ave ye always lived in Whitby?" Ellie asked to pass the time.

Christine smiled as she sipped her tea and gave a very tiny dish of milk to Archimedes , which seemed to calm him. "Oh no, I was born and raised in York. I guess you could say we were middle class. Father made enough money for upper class but frugal enough we all lived more like lower class. " She shrugged and grinned. "But you cant take it with you, so what good did it do him in the end?" She ate a slice and looked at Ellie. "Tell me more about yourself."

Ellie thought Christine's upbringing odd, having money like other rich people but living poor. Maybe that's how she could afford Ellie's new wardrobe.

"Like I said yesterday, I'm from 'ere, Whitby. Too many sisters in that tiny 'ouse in the Cragg. I don't fancy being a fisherlass. Which is why I became a maid. It's good work and I'm a good one, that's why I wanted to work for you. It'd be nice to see a little more of the world than just Whitby, Blackpool with its lights.. London maybe."

Christine nodded. "I get that. Should always be able to want and try for something more, right?"

She seemed in thought and smiled. "Keep sticking around and doing a good job. Maybe in a little while, I'll treat ya like a ward and we go to London. See a few shows, make a weekend of it?"

"Really, Miss?" Ellie asked between sips of tea. There was a chance that her horizons would be bigger.

Christine nodded with a little tilt of her head. "Why not? You won't be kept that busy here and it is nice not going alone to things."

The prospect of a 'southern adventure' certainly sounded fun to young Ellie. "What's a ward, Miss?" the girl asked, latching on to something said a moment ago.

Christine seemed in thought. "Basically, I would treat you sort of as unofficially a minor under my guardianship. I'm not your mother or anything like that. But I do like to treat you like a younger sister I never had. I almost feel bad about making you run my errands and pick up after me, but then if I did that I would have to hire another maid and you wouldn't get paid. So what would be the point?" She surmised as she looked towards Ellie.